Latest AEW signee Ricky Starks talks WWE's golden era, Boneyard match, favorite wrestler, and more

Former NWA star Ricky Starks made his AEW debut on tonight's episode of AEW Dynamite and answered Cody's TNT title open challenge. Starks lost the match and Tony Khan later announced that he had signed a contract with AEW.

Ricky Starks sat down with Sportskeeda's Darren Paltrowitz on May 18, 2020, a month before his eventual AEW debut, and opened up on a bunch of topics in regards to his career as a pro-wrestler. Starks discussed WWE, WCW, modern wrestling, and several other intriguing topics with Paltrowitz.

Starks on who his all-time favorite wrestler is:

Undertaker, my favorite wrestler of all time, a living legend., bar none.

Starks spoke about how he signed with NWA:

The NWA found me through these vignettes that I posted online. I don't think they ever saw me wrestle, I don't think they ever heard me talk, but they saw these vignettes that I produced. From that they thought, 'This guy's pretty creative'. They brought me in, I did the Powerr episode.

Starks on when the golden era of WWE was:

I think the golden era was the 2001-02 period. I think that's when you had the best of both worlds, as far as wrestling goes, and entertainment. It really hit the stride between those two years.

Starks also revealed when he got into wrestling:

My first memory was from like 1996-97. That's the first vivid memory I can remember. The Barroom Brawl with Taker is the first match that I enjoyed.

Ricky Starks spoke about how NWA stands out among a string of promotions:

The production is a lot different. The wrestlers are a little bit different. I just think from a visual standpoint, aesthetically, it stands in that regard. And then you have the matches too, I don't wanna say it's as match-heavy as certain promotions, but there's a fine balance that is trying to be found. And I think that since you have good delivery with your promos, the matches too are good because you are invested in that.

Starks also gave his thoughts on the Boneyard match between The Undertaker and AJ Styles at WrestleMania 36:

Loved it, loved it! So, so good. Such a great match. Not even because Undertaker's in it, I mean, that's true, but, he's so good.

Ricky Starks is 'All Elite' according to AEW President Tony Khan's latest tweet

Starks had also opened up on possibly signing with AEW (the Instagram Live was conducted before his signing), and added that he didn't mind going to WWE as well. Now officially signed up with AEW, you can catch the former NWA star on AEW Dynamite every Wednesday on TNT.